I’ve written several times about the challenges of advisor succession, and now want to look at this from a family risk perspective. If your advisor is suddenly unable to work, is it the advisory firm’s problem, or yours? While the personal connection between a family of significant wealth and its advisors is important, succession arrangements on the advisor side can have a huge impact on the family. From a risk perspective, it’s important to avoid…
Change is in the winds. Women control more than 60% of personal wealth in the USA. While older generations hold a patriarchal view of wealth, only a third of their children held such views. Women family leaders, regardless of age, are challenging traditional gender roles. The ecosystem is adapting to these changes, recognising that within the family office, there was a need to approach women differently than men. We are seeing initiatives to help women…
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Consider This: Are members of your family more driven by greed or envy? While neither are good attributes, what can you do to mitigate their risks? Greed and Envy are two of the ‘seven deadly sins’ and are relevant to material wealth. Economists adopt the fundamental principle that people seek wealth maximisation (a form of greed), but is this really the case? Because we live in communities and families, it can be argued that the…
Q: How do we protect the next generation from blowing our money? A: Stop right there. Whether you have created or inherited the wealth, the language of the question reeks of a power, control and mistrust dynamic. Many families either hang on to their wealth or setup structures to prevent their children from “blowing it” (which is often controlling from the grave). Yes, it’s awkward having discussions about estate planning and family wealth, and who wants to…
Many families struggle with the ‘why’ of their wealth. Defining a philanthropic strategy is a great way for a family to articulate a purpose for their wealth. However, only 20% of families have a formal process for doing so. At the start of COVID, there was concern that financial pressure on families would lead to a reduction in philanthropy. But in a recent survey, 43% of respondents said that the pandemic had not altered the…
If you couldn’t bear to watch Megan Markle bare her soul to Oprah (or if you couldn’t look away from it, and from the endless commentary that followed), here are two practical things you can actually take from the latest episode of this saga: 1. There are serious challenges to growing up in a wealthy family with a public profile. The weight of expectations is heavy, and finding identity and meaning can be difficult. Marrying…
Consider this from two perspectives: the family and the individual. Do families demand that younger generations prove themselves in some way, perhaps before being allowed to join the family business or take some other role with respect to the family assets? The other side is the view of the younger family member. Being born into wealth can be a lodestone, especially the way ‘privilege’ is a dirty word in some circles. The world loves a…
And does being ‘happy’ mean something different to those who have wealth and those who don’t? These are the questions considered in a recent research study. Most anyone who has wealth would find it obvious that the answer to the first question is a resounding ‘no’, but it takes the rigour of an academic to first define happiness (life satisfaction and a set of distinct positive emotions), and then examine the correlation between them and…
Q: We have three non-family board members in their 70s on our family board. How should we handle moving them on? A: The composition of the family board is a careful balance between family members & independent voices, and maintaining regular turnover is very important. Often, families will establish a board with some family members, the family lawyer & accountant, and perhaps some other trusted advisors. But without due attention to the board composition, the group can…
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